Magnificent new food hall House of Social opens in Manchester

A whopping great new food hall is opening its doors in Manchester this month – House of Social is officially ready to launch.

This much-anticipated new opening will be a hub for some of the UK’s top food and drink traders, including homegrown talent and lust-after operators from other cities.

With five traders inside, House of Social has taken over a huge space on the ground floor of a new Vita Group student accommodation building.

The venue itself is a modern giant, wrapped around a central bar and huge colour-changing light fixtures.

Spread across two floors, plus an outdoor terrace area, there’s space for hundreds of diners at once across cosy booths, large group tables, and window seats overlooking the First Street neighbourhood.

There are five fantastic traders operating inside House of Social – check them out below.

Mughli

This Curry Mile icon is finally heading to the city centre for the first time in its three-decades-long reign, serving up its popular Punjabi curries as well as contemporary small plates.

Menu highlights include an Indian sausage roll, where the meat is a lamb seekh kebab, and the pot alongside is filled with a bone marrow gravy – think birria taco, but a curry house pastry.

There’s also a giant helping of butter chicken, gently smoked and spiced and made with tandoor chicken; and street snacks like a plate of stracciatella dotted with beetroot, chutneys, and crispy scraps.

Dough Religion

These slow-fermented, in-house, New York-style pizza slices are going to be a popular choice at House of Social – but that’s not all that’s on the menu.

Dough Religion is also making gigantic subs, packed with fillings like a fried chicken Caesar, or house beef and pork meatballs.

And there are puddings too, like fat swirls of cinnamon roll thick with frosting, and the ‘Burnt Yorker’, a cheesecake hybrid from somewhere between the Basque region and New York City.

OK Taqueria

Taco paradise has touched down at House of Social with this brand-new California-inspired Mexican food concept.

There’s a rotating menu of tacos, including crispy pork belly al pastor, Tinga chicken thigh, a Baja fish taco.

But for god sake, don’t skip the beef shin birria, served with a pot of consomme gravy for dipping. It’s a stunner.

Burger & Beyond

This is the first time London favourite Burger & Beyond has left the capital, and of course, it’s Manchester who gets it first.

These guys serve up exceptional buns, like a fried chicken hot honey burger, classic cheeseburgers, and a signature dish of the bacon butter burger, topped with crispy pancetta, burnt butter mayo and onion.

There’s also signature tots drizzled in ranch sauce, hot sauce and bacon bits.

Choi Wan

Prawn toast crumpets! PRAWN TOAST CRUMPETS!! That, and more, are on the menu at Choi Wan, a Chinese street food spot in House of Social.

Charlie Yu has brought his famous satay here, all served with half rice and half chips (an old faithful), then there’s also a half chicken rotisserie served with salt and pepper chips, and kimchi slaw.

And for dessert, it’s Mr Whippy, in various formats.

House of Social will open on Coleman Street on 19 August.

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Featured image: The Manc Group